Zip line n Bounce Below – Llechwedd Slate Caverns

Date went: 15/11/2014

So one night in the builders Frosty said “Guys you know Wales has Europe’s largest zip line called Velocity. We didn’t know this so straight away got done to booking. Unfortunately Velocity had completely sold out for the weekend we wanted so we opted to try the titan zip line which wasn’t as big however still cool. We also found out about a place called “Bounce Below” which was at the same place as the Titan zip line. This was basically huge nets that you could bounce around on below in a huge cave – again this had to be done.

So the day came and I drove us to Wales from Wolves. The views we came across were brilliant…there were a few drops at the side when we drove up into the mountains which had me on edge but still good views.

Accommodation

We got to our accommodation which I had booked us. It was a small 2 roomed BNB called CRAIG DDU. It cost £75 for 3 of us to stay in a triple room. This was an ideal location to stop at as it was on the same road as Bounce below and Titan zip line. We turned up and were greeted by the lady who showed us to our room. It was a huge room, huge bathroom etc and she asked us what we wanted for breaky as soon as we arrived. Frosty being vegan was shocked to find they had vege sausages too!

Zip line – TITAN

So we drove from the bnb to the Zip line world thing. It was only a 5 minute drive. We went to the check in desk where they put a jump suit on and harnessed us all up n then gave us helmets. This was the finished product

They then got us all to get in the back of this huge army truck thing and took us up into the slate mountains. We then got off and had to hike for about 10 mins to the top of the zip line – now this itself knackered us out. The weather was quite warm and we were sweating in those jump suits. We got to the top and then they stated that you did 3 at a time. The instructor told us to watch out for 2 things:

”When you are heading towards the instructors at the other end watch their hand movements as if they wave their arms it means you gotta hold onto the straps so you slow down and if they hold their arms out like a bird it means you have to hold your arms out to slow you down.”

So we all got strapped to the zip line and put our feet against the metal gate in front of us. We could see how high up we were and it was literally a huge drop over a quarry. The gate then opened and as soon as you take your feet off the bar you head down the wire. Now when you first let your feet off the bar you go above the quarry and the wind just rushes against your face… you realise how high up you are and start to panic slightly. Unfortunately my harness decided to try and do a 360…and I had to grab one of the straps and pull it to get myself straight again. That was pretty scary as spent most my time trying to correct it – grrr You head towards the instructors the other end and there is a breaking system… you literally go flying up towards the zipline your attached to as you brake suddenly.

We then went onto another zip line (not as high) and they take a picture of when it brakes you.

The experience lasted about 20 mins and was worth the money. It was cool being so high and having the wind rushing against you and also racing ya mates either side of you.

We then got our jumpsuits off and had 2 cans of John Smiths, a water and a sasauge role to get the session on the go.

Once drank it was now time to go our next booked attraction which was at the same place as the zip line and it was called “BOUNCE BELOW”!

Bounce Below

Now you had the option here of putting another jump suit on. I wanted to as it was about 4pm now and it was dark and cold outside so figured I was cold so a jump suit would provide me with more warmth (no one else wore one). We then got into this miners train where we went into the slate caverns underground. We got off and the instructor walked us to the nets. This place was so cool – picture a huge cave with 3 huge nets with people jumping around on them – this is BOUNCE BELOW!

One by one we had to walk across this net bridge and have our pics taken. You are then unleashed on the giant trampoline/ net thingy. After a few pushing each other over and nearly twisting our ankles we then decided to go up to the net above us. To do this we had to climb these ladder bridge rope things. We bounced around abit and then noticed that to get to the net below us there was a kinda shoot. /net slide.

You would put your feet down it hold ya arms across ya chest and just jump down it and shoot down to the next net. That was so cool. Me n Frosty decided to jump at the bottom of it to make getting out the slide net for Bob even more difficult haha.

Now after ten mines of bouncing around we were Knackered. Sweaty n hot n stitches galore it was time for lying down on the nets. Then we would have a running race across the nets (which I won). After an hour it was time for us to catch our miners train and get the hell out of there.

This experience was fab. It’s a great laugh with ya mates. You do struggle to get across the nets ever so often n scared of wacking into small kids but it was really good and felt like a full workout afterwards ha. Deffo recommend this!

We headed back to our bnb where we all got changed and hit the small village town. Now there were about 6 bars in this town. We ended up in a local one where people were friendly and met alot of new people. All speaking Welsh we hadn’t got a clue what people were saying at first however once they found out where we were from they spoke English so all good.